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Publication Date: September 15, 2008 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Author: · Tim Reid · Tom Dreesen · Ron Rapoport Grade: B-

Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen tell their story of becoming an up-and-coming comedy duo, tracing their history from the school of hard knocks to lavish dressing rooms and studio audiences, carrying the reader into the racially turbulent sixties and seventies through their words.

Tim and Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White opens with Tim and Tom performing at the infamous Club Harlem where prostitutes and pimps were the usual patrons in a predominately black neighborhood; a tough crowd, but Tim and Tom proved to be tougher -- and, ultimately, funny enough to succeed. Although an unlikely pairing, Tim and Tom found themselves to be brothers from different mothers: Both were the products of poverty, running with rough crowds until later finding their way to greatness. Tim spent his early days in a whorehouse with his aunt, left there by his mother and drug addicted stepfather. Tom grew up in bars, and later in a shack near the railroad tracks with his older siblings, all of whom were neglected by their alcoholic parents. Although the events of their formative years were tragic, they made for great comic material in their future comedy sets.

The journey from those humble beginnings -- their search for greatness, their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and the honing of their delivery to appease audiences whether predominately black or white -- made for one of the most interesting odd couples in American history. But as Reid and Dreesen write, even when things looked successful from the outside, the behind-the-scenes facts were quite another story altogether:
 

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     The contrast between their appearance on stage -- two hip, good-looking, well-dressed young men -- and the reality of their lives on the road could not have been more stark. No one who saw them working in the fanciest club in town would have believed how little money they were making -- often no more than $100 a night apiece -- or that they could not afford the luxury of separate hotel rooms. But for the fact this hardly fit the image they wanted to project, and the embarrassment involved, this would have provided excellent material for their act.

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Reid and Dreesen's autobiography is vividly told (with assistance from Ron Rapoport), with imaginary that puts the reader right there in the smoky night club surrounded by the dregs of society and in the Tonight Show audience laughing it up with Hollywood’s showbiz elite. This American comedy is truly a tale that needs to be told.